


Confirmation

by herasux



Category: One Piece
Genre: But it could be worse, Coby was not as slick as he thought, Gen, Smoker/Drake/Hina Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-08 12:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20835275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herasux/pseuds/herasux
Summary: Smoker will keep quiet, for now.





	Confirmation

The scene of Coby having what appeared to be a conversation with a very familiar individual via Den Den Mushi as far as Smoker was concerned caused the Vice Admiral to pause in shock as he rounded the corner of the old storage area where Coby had hidden himself away; it hardly got any use these days, so it made for a perfect hiding place most of the time. There was enough light to make out Coby, the storage area to a fair amount, and the Den Den Mushi itself, however, Smoker wasn’t sure what he was confused by the most: Coby’s actions or the form the Den Den Mushi he was operating had taken.

Earlier on after finishing some business that needed tending to within the HQ, Smoker had followed a young, pink haired marine whom had exhibited some odd behavior earlier on before leaving their general area. Tashigi, who’d been with him at the time, pegged the kid as “Coby” which meant that he was the kid who had stood up to Akainu during the Marineford War. The kid had guts which was never bad in their line of work, and while he didn’t think Coby was suspicious of anything bad, there was a feeling that he just couldn’t shake. There was something going on, and though Smoker hadn’t known what that could possibly be, he had decided to follow after sending Tashigi off.

The resulting scene after quietly tailing Coby to one of the old storage areas down in the basement of the HQ was shocking. Coby and the other marine—definitely a Marine—had used secure code words. The information they were trading _was not_ common knowledge. What was even worse than that though was the fact that he‘d know the scar on that Den Den Mushi anywhere—not to mention the bright hair color.

”Who’re you talking to, Coby?” Smoker said suddenly, voice tight as he tried not to allow any sort of emotion to seep into his voice even though his mind was working overtime as it attempted to piece everything together with so little information.

”Ah?!!” Shocked by the voice, Coby had turned—eyes guilty—towards Vice Admiral Smoker who stood a few feet away with a serious expression on his face. Well, it looked pretty serious, but it was sort of dark, so Coby couldn’t make out every little detail. “How did you—?”

Tightening his grip on the receiver, the pink haired Rear Admiral glanced down towards the snail when a male voice rang out clearly.

”Coby?” The voice questioned and then paused before speaking a tentative, “Eggs?”

Coby frowned, realizing that code word. “Eggs” was a question of the worst case scenario—if Coby had been caught in a situation that threatened what they were doing, but since that wasn’t entirely the case... It was more of a fowl situation.

”Spiced Chicken.” This meant that things were still good, but there was a bit of a complication.

Smoker’s brows furrowed, and if this situation would have been different, he might have even been amused by the code words. Those alone only further cemented as to the identity of the man on the other end.

”Who is it ... ?”

On the other end, from Drake’s perspective, Coby’s Den Den looked quite dejected at having been caught based on the code word he had used, but because it was a Spiced Chicken situation perhaps things weren’t as bad as he thought. Though, that depended on the person in question who had found Coby.

”... V—Vice Admiral _Smoker_.”

Drake’s fingers gripped the receiver tightly. Smoker? Smoker—that—the chances of Smoker of all Marines catching Coby were simply astronomical and yet...! It was easy to conjure Smoker’s face within mind—he’d had changed since they were cadets! Well, he certainly had more hair than he had back then though it was more tame nowadays.

”Give me the receiver Coby.”

_Ah, he sounds angry_, Drake thought when Smoker’s voice piped up again and this time, much closer than before. Scratching the back of his neck lightly, Drake sighed. He couldn’t talk for long—the conversation was getting close to their usual cut off point.

”It’s alright. Give the Vice Admiral the receiver, Coby.”

”A - alright.”

There was some shuffling and then a thump before Smoker’s voice piped up again, definitely angry.

”Just what the hell is going on, you **bastard**?” Smoker barked, glaring down at the Den Den Mushi. “_What are you playing at?_ What the hell are you now?” In the back of his mind, Smoker felt a since of deja vu—he’d had this conversation before to a degree and honestly, he hadn’t been keen on that, either. He’d died a little inside figuratively speaking, but looking back on it now, at least Kuzan was still the man he knew and he chose to believe that because Kuzan was his friend.

Drake’s defection had come as a shock and they—Hina and Smoker himself—hadn’t understood what, exactly, had been going through his mind to cause him to make such s decision. He had been—was?—a Marine among Marines! Now, things seemed not to be what they had seemed to be initially...

“It’s complicated, and I cannot tell you everything for obvious reasons, but I’m still the man you knew back then, Smoker—that hasn’t changed.“

Gripping the receiver tightly, Smoker stubbornly wanted to reply that he “didn’t know about that” as Drake hadn’t said a peep to him and for this to come out at chance was even worse. If this hadn’t happened, it was likely that he would still hold a lot of negative feelings for his old friend. Hell, he was going to need some time to process this new found information, but that aside, there were still some questions that needed answering.

Back in Wano, Drake waited to hear Smoker’s response, and even though he didn’t really have the time to sit around and wait for it, he stayed quiet until the older man’s voice piped up again.

”Alright.”

He didn’t like it, but Smoker let it go—for now.

”Sounds like I’m not off the hook at all even when you say that.”

”You’re not.”

”Fair enough. I’ve got to go, and be kind to Coby. He’s a good kid.”

Coby blinked, surprised, and flushed a bit. Captain Drake was very cool, so to be complimented by him was an unexpected pleasure. Of course, he hadn’t meant to really listen in on what seemed to be a more personal conversation, but there was no other choice on the other hand.

Smoker glanced over the pink haired young man and snorted at Coby’s reaction. When the line clicked off, the older man returned the receiver to its proper place and proceeded to make his way back towards the exit.

”I’ll head out first.”

Coby watched the Vice Admiral leave, determined more than ever to be even more secretive when it came to interactions with other Sword members. There could not be a “next time” incident no matter how minor.


End file.
